Vote on horse slaughter ban
Every year, three foreign-owned slaughter plants located in the United States kill nearly 100,000 horses for human consumption. Americans don’t eat horse meat, but our horses end up on dinner plates in Belgium, France, and Japan.
Slaughter is far from humane. Horses suffer terribly, enduring long transport without food, water or rest, and death at the slaughterhouse is neither quick nor painless.
Congress can put a stop to this. H.R. 503, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, will be voted on in the House of Representatives July 10. If passed, this Act will end the slaughter of horses for human consumption, and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for the same purpose. Supporters have worked for five long years to bring this to fruition.
Last year, the public and animal welfare/rights organizations managed to convince Congress to pass an Agricultural spending bill that de-funded the meat inspectors the slaughterhouses need to ship their product overseas. The intention was to put the slaughterhouses out of business. The plants simply petitioned the USDA for the right to pay for inspections themselves. The USDA agreed, and the slaughterhouses stayed open.
Americans overwhelmingly support a permanent end to horse slaughter for human consumption. Please call your Representative at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to support H.R. 503, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. For more information visit: www.saplonline.org/horses.htm
Our beloved horse companions deserve better.

Shirley Puga
Encinitas

Racism only inflames immigration issue
This is in response to Mr. Crane’s letter to the editor, “Yes, we are illegal (Downtown News, May 2006).” I’m comforted that, in a time that our country claims to be at the forefront of civility, Mr. Crane is continuing one of the oldest traditions of this country: racism towards a non-white community. I’m comforted that my Latino family will grow up listening to the Minutemen’s dogma of paranoia and suspicion towards the Latino community. Yes, I do recognize that illegal immigration is an important issue to our country, but by no means is it a threat to the economy or our communities. Mr. Crane made an attempt to sound knowledgeable of Mexico’s history, but he only knows enough to be dangerous.
His letter only inflamed a situation that is never going to change, but only get worse because of the racist and ignorant messages he keeps sending out to the public.
If building a fence and increasing border security were really solutions to illegal immigration, this “problem” would have been solved decades ago.
Immigration is an age-old human behavior that ensures the survival of any country and should not be looked at as criminal behavior. Mr. Crane and his little Minutemen should spend more time educating themselves on the changing face of our country instead of acting like clumsy weekend soldiers. If they see illegal crossers as the enemy, then they should recognize a motivated and determined enemy that is never going to be defeated. Hang the hat and holster on the wall, guys. You’re better off spending your time with family and friends and looking back on your time camping at the border.
Victor Vargas
San Diego

Why isn’t English good enough?
When the English came across the sea to populate what is now known as the USA, the language was English. For many years English was considered the common language. In recent years as immigrants invade our country, we now have a mixture of many dialects. Now Congress is to vote on should English be our national language? I always thought it was. It should be required to learn our language to become a citizen or an immigrant living here (I thought it was).
I went to the beauty shop to have my nails done. The owner managed to speak a well-accented version, but only she spoke English. In this case you couldn’t talk to the operator unless you knew Vietnamese. I walked into Wendy’s and managed to get my order in to a lady who spoke broken English-Spanish. I don’t know Spanish either. It is getting more difficult every day when the clerks in the grocery store chatter in Spanish.
My friend says some government offices speak five different languages, none of them English.
If English was good enough for our forefathers why isn’t it good enough now?

Ada May Powers
San Diego